Sonia Ahmed photo
At Brennan-Rogers graduation on Tuesday: Is this the school's last graduating class?
New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón is considering closing Brennan-Rogers School in the West Rock neighborhood in order to help address an estimated $16.5 million budget deficit.
Negrón informed Brennan-Rogers staff and families earlier this week of the plan to potentially close the PreK‑8 school next academic year, if agreed to by the Board of Education.
“After careful consideration and thorough review of a variety of financial scenarios, it has become evident that I must include the closing of Brennan Rogers as a possible effort in closing the $16.5 million budget gap we project while limiting layoffs,” Negrón wrote in a letter to school parents and guardians on Tuesday.
“This decision is not made lightly as I understand the impact it would have on our students, families, and staff.”
If the Wilmot Road school is closed, Negrón continued, the district will “implement a special lottery process for the families affected to ensure that all 132 students have access to quality educational opportunities.”
Read Negrón’s letter in full below.
The potential closure of Brennan-Rogers comes as the West Rock public school has struggled with declining enrollment. Click here to read about the school’s celebration of of 33 graduating eighth graders on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the district has also already committed to closing the Dixwell neighborhood’s community school, Wexler-Grant, and merging its student population with that of Newhallville’s Lincoln-Bassett School next school year. And, as recently as last week, the mayor and superintendent said that the budget deficit for next fiscal year — which starts July 1 — makes layoffs of teachers, central office staff, and school support staffers “unavoidable.”
Several Brennan-Rogers parents, teachers, and paraprofessionals told the Independent Thursday that Negrón met with school staff at dismissal on the last day of school, which was Tuesday. Staff questioned how much money would really be saved if Brennan-Rogers were to close, since students who live on the far west side of town can currently walk there, and now have to be bussed elsewhere.
Staff who spoke with the Independent said that the superintendent said that Brennan-Rogers employees would not be laid off if the school were closed; instead, they reportedly would be able to transfer into vacant positions elsewhere in the district.
According to the state’s EdSight schools’s dashboard for the 2024 – 25 school year, Brennan-Rogers had an enrollment of 203 students, 189 of whom are high needs. The state defines “high needs” as a student with a disability, an English Learner, or a student eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
The state dashboard also shows that 56 percent of the Brennan-Rogers student population is Black or African American, and 40 percent is Hispanic or Latino.
The possible closure of Brennan-Rogers comes as the school district has also already decided to close the Dixwell neighborhood’s community school, Wexler-Grant, and merge its student population with Newhallville’s Lincoln-Bassett School.
Read the full letter from Negrón below.
